Monday, April 29, 2013

letting your guard down so you can bloom.

from the moment i knew i was going to lose my job i began preparing myself for the next chapter of my life. i didn't dwell too much on whether or not i would keep my position with the company and make the 3 hour round-trip commute to toronto everyday to do so. i didn't pull my resume out of the archives, dust it off and begin the in my opinion pain staking process of updating it, polishing it up, and getting it out there tits first into the warfare that is the job market -- unless they sell tulip bundles for $3 and pickling cucumbers by the bushel, it's not the kind of market i'm interested in these days anyways. i did just about anything to distance myself from a job search, including pulling the wool over my own eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears and "la la la la la'-ing" my way through these last six months.

yes, like a four year old.

until last week that is when i allowed a very persistent career counselor to hunt me down to discuss my plansfuturelife what the fuck is going on in my head. i explained my brilliant plan of not having a plan at all, and convinced her that i'm going to start my own business one day, so i didn't need any help finding a job. however that shit didn't fly and before i knew it she was scheduling an appointment to meet (did i mention she's persistent?) emailing me a questionnaire, an aptitude test and three pages of goal writing to have filled out by the meeting, and wouldn't ya know, i surprised myself (and her to be honest) by actually completing it -- what can i say, i'm a sucker for lists.

within the first five minutes of our meeting i was hanging on every word my new found career counselor said. a successful business woman herself, she didn't sugar coat a thing for me, nor did i for her, and i can't tell you how refreshing that is. we spent two solid hours chatting about everything from all my very favourite things: events, planning, design, weddings, florals, cakes, wine, bad words, writing, photography, home decor and fashion, to all my least favourite things: budgets, bills, taxes, bookkeeping, setting costs, dealing with confrontation and deadlines. what we discovered is i have a great sense of column a, and a horrible sense of column b; like column b is reaaal bad. the good news is, if i try hard enough, i can work on column b and learn how to be successful at that stuff too. and if that goes for a shit, the even better news is, i can hire someone to do it for me!

so i'm on the track to somewhere. where and when and how are all still a mystery, but that's part of the fun right!? right? i have let my guard down and am allowing someone to help me lay the stonework that is the path to wherever this life will take me. i'm utilizing resources and taking advantage of the tools being presented to me, and as much as that scares me, the spark that my career fairy godmother lit within me shines far brighter than any ounce of fear i could ever carry.

I just picture you sitting down with a career counselor talking of your love for bad words. lol - forget all that budget stuff, there are plenty of people out there who love that shit. Do what you love!